The Road to Redemption (11 page)

“Next time,
ask before you maul.” With that she walked away.

She pushed her
way through the throng, scenting the air and studying those around
her. A Lycan spy gyrating on a dance floor was totally absurd and
thus a perfect cover.

Damien had
caught site of Sam dancing and had wondered what she was up to.
When she nearly broke the finger of the male who was groping her,
he’d given a mental nod of approval even though it was none of his
business if she hooked up with random guys. Unfortunately, knowing
it wasn’t his concern hadn’t stopped the scowl from forming on his
face. His wolf hadn’t appreciated it either, a low rumble
reverberating in the beast’s throat.

Now that she’d
moved away from the mauler, his mood lightened or at least as much
as it could, given the scum he was on the hunt for. The hint of
lilacs that he’d detected in the air had him on alert. Sure, it
could be perfume but… He sighted his quarry in the corner.
Dante.

His hackles
rose and he stalked towards the intruder, only the fact that they
were in a public place surrounded by humans kept him from
snarling.

“I thought I
told you to stay the hell away from here.”

Dante looked
up from the drink he’d been nursing. “Nice to see you, too,
Damien.” He gestured towards an empty chair. “Have a seat.”

“No.”

“You really
should, you know. We need to discuss…old times.”

He hesitated
and then slid into the chair. Old times with Dante meant Deirdre.
The woman had been his ‘handler’ during his years working as an
assassin. He’d turned his back on it though, walked away not caring
that it meant a price was on his head. It still didn’t matter, but,
if Deirdre was going to kill him, it wouldn’t hurt to know how and
when.

“Drink?” Dante
signalled for a waitress, but Damien shook his head.

“The days when
we drank together are long gone, Dante. What do you want?”

“Just passing
along some information.”

“About?”

“Several
things.” Dante looked away, suddenly appearing disinterested in the
conversation.

“You waiting
for me to pay you?” Damien leaned back in his chair and crossed his
arms.

“Depends on if
you want the information.” Dante shrugged. “If you don’t, Sam
Harper might be interested.”

Damien shot
his hand across the table and grabbed Dante’s collar. “I told you
to stay away from her.”

Dante laughed,
the sound coming out more like a wheeze due to the material
twisting around his throat. “I really don’t think you want the
bouncer throwing you out, do you?”

Slowly, Damien
relaxed his grip and sat back in his chair, his jaw tightly
clenched; Dante’s presence stretching his self-control to the very
limits. One of his first assignments while working for Deirdre had
partnered him with the bastard. Dante wasn’t above stealing from
the dead or saving his own hide at the expense of his
teammates.

Taking a sip
of his drink, Dante gave him a speculative look. “You seem
protective towards Harper. Care to share why?”

Damien ignored
the comment. “How much?”

For a moment,
he wondered if Dante was going to press the issue regarding Sam
but, typical of the man, the lure of hard cash took precedence.

“For my
information? A couple hundred.”

“Ha! You’d
have to be selling me the code to Lycan Link’s security system
before I’d pay you that much.”

“Just
checking. You never spent much of what Deirdre paid you so you must
have a nice fat bank account.”

Damien
narrowed his eyes. “I’ll only ask once more and then I’ll drag your
sorry ass into the alley and beat the information from you.”

“Fifty…for
now.”

His inner wolf
bared its teeth and Damien barely held back the growl that rose in
his throat. “You try and bleed me dry by delivering this one piece
at a time and I’ll break your fingers one at a time. Spill what you
know now.”

“Then it’ll
cost you a hundred.”

“Fifty now.
The rest if I decide your information is worth it.”

Dante held out
his hand and Damien pulled some bills from his pocket.

Once the money
was tucked away, Dante leaned forward. “You were on Deirdre’s hit
list when you left.”

“Old news,
Dante. I knew that the moment I jumped ship.” Deirdre didn’t make
idle threats, and, in the first few months, he’d had several
brushes with her crew of assassins. The fact that he was still
alive, a year and a half later, puzzled him. Her organization
wasn’t inefficient; he’d worked for them long enough to know their
capabilities. He was curious if Dante knew why the hunt had eased
off, but wouldn’t give the bastard any satisfaction by showing an
interest.

“True. But
shortly after you left, something happened. No one knows exactly
what, but she let a lot of us go.”

“So that’s why
you’re scrounging for jobs?”

Dante
shrugged. “Deirdre paid me well. I became used to a certain
standard.”

Damien didn’t
doubt that Dante had been paid better than most. The man had even
fewer scruples than the rest of the team and would take on any job.
But Dante wasn’t his concern at the moment. What did this news have
to do with his own fate? “So...if she’s closed up shop, I’m no
longer on her hit list?”

“Perhaps. She
didn’t exactly close shop; more like scaled back.” Abruptly, Dante
leaned closer. He flicked a glance about the room and then
whispered a question. “Do you have any idea what happened?”

“No.”

“I’m wondering
if it has to do with Stone.”

“Elijah
Stone?” Damien frowned. The name was whispered in hushed tones
within Deirdre’s organization. Supposedly, Stone and Deirdre had
started the business together but, in his time there, Damien had
never seen the man. In fact, he even questioned the mythical
partner’s existence. “Sorry. Can’t help you.”

“Hmmm.” Dante
rubbed his chin and his eyes focused on some distant point before
he looked at Damien again. “I’d wondered if on that last day, you
might have noticed something or heard something.”

“Eaves-dropping was your specialty, not mine.”

“Information
acquisition.” Dante gave a short dry laugh. “I thought you might
have known more; Deirdre always did have a thing for you.”

Damien shook
his head. “More like she was pissed off that I didn’t fall at her
feet.”

Dante shrugged
and moved to stand up. “Well, thanks for the info—”

Damien shot
out his hand and grabbed the other man’s arm stopping him from
moving farther. “Where the hell do you think you’re going? I’m the
one that paid for information.”

“It was worth
a try.” The other man slowly sat back down, massaging the spot that
Damien had grabbed. “Of course, if you want more…” He extended his
hand.

“Dante, your
information isn’t worth shit. I’m not paying you again. I want a
refund.” Damien began to reach across the table, but Dante leaned
away.

“All right.
Don’t start frothing at the mouth. I have more.” He licked his
lips. “Your old partner—Reno—he got the charges against you
dropped. Official files list you as an ex-Enforcer, no mention of
dishonourable conduct.”

Damien raised
his brows. That was unexpected news. His time as an Enforcer seemed
like another lifetime. Since leaving Lycan Link and parting ways
with Deirdre, he’d knocked about the country, taking on odd jobs
here and there, spending time with Kane’s pack now and then. He
hadn’t hidden, but he’d kept a low profile. Mouldering away in
detention didn’t appeal to him and, while he’d escaped the Trackers
a few times, he’d known his luck wouldn’t hold out forever. Plus,
it would have been too hard on Reno to have to testify against him.
Though why he worried about the man, he didn’t know. Their final
meeting in Grassy Hills hadn’t gone well. The look on Reno’s
face—half accusing, half disappointment—had hurt, yet the man
mustn’t have totally given up on him.

Damn. Damien
rubbed his neck, uncomfortable with the idea that Reno had
continued to go to bat for him. He looked at the man sitting across
the table from him. There was a speculative look in Dante’s eye
that put Damien’s radar on alert. No way Dante was wasting his time
delivering bits of good news.

“So beyond
giving me an update, what ‘old times’ did we need to discuss?”

“Just a
minute.” Dante flagged the waitress who was passing by. When she
stopped, he gave her a warm smile. “My friend here said he’d pay my
tab; his birthday present to me.”

“What?” Caught
off guard, Damien was a split second too slow to react. Dante was
on his feet, the waitress between them.

“I’ll be in
touch.” With a salute, Dante slipped through the crowd.

Damien fumed
and dug out some money to pay the waitress, but by the time he was
done, Dante was long gone.

“Who was
that?” Sam appeared at his side. She must have grown impatient
waiting for him.

“An old
acquaintance.”

She sniffed
the air and a sneer curled her lip. “He wears lilac cologne?”

Damien didn’t
bother correcting her. Dammit, he knew he should have killed Dante
last night!

Kane sat at his desk and stared at the backlog of
work that awaited him. He’d just returned from Stump River and was
now regretting having made the trip. The accountant needed to speak
to him about an income tax problem, Lycan Link had sent three
messages marked urgent, several pack members had requested personal
meetings; the list went on and on. And that wasn’t counting the
items John, his Beta, had dealt with during his absence.

He sighed and
opened up the first email from Lycan Link.

“Kane, wasn’t
it great to get away together? It was our first ‘family’ vacation.”
Elise breezed into the room interrupting his train of thought.

“What? Oh
yeah.” Their blood bond was tickling his brain, letting him know
how happy she was. It was also distracting him from the message on
his screen.

Elise perched
on the edge of the desk. She swung her foot back and forth, a broad
smile on her face. “I think we should try to get away with the kids
a couple of times a year. Once could be to go see Ryne and Mel—I
loved Stump River—and then another time could be something fun and
educational for the kids.”

“Uh-huh.” He
frowned trying to divide his attention between his mate and his
mail. Lycan Link was looking at restructuring… “Yeah. A vacation
for the kids. Good idea.”

“And we need
to get away by ourselves once in a while, too.” She slid off the
desk and stood behind him. “Time without the children interrupting
or a pack emergency.” Slowly, she slid her hands across his
shoulders and down his arms. Then, a moment later, her breath
tickled his ear. “Wouldn’t that be great?”

High Council
was considering… Damn, he lost his train of thought again!

“Elise.” Kane
shrugged her hands off. “I’m trying to read an important message
from Lycan Link and you keep distracting me.” He dragged his hand
through his hair. “I’ve read this paragraph twice already and can’t
make heads or tails out of it.”

“Oh.” She
stepped away, the smile leaving her face for a moment before
returning, albeit not quite as bright as before. “Can I help you
with anything? I know we were gone a week and things pile up.”

He shook his
head. “No. They’re all things I have to do myself. If they could
have been delegated, John would have taken care of them.”

“All right.”
She shrugged and rearranged the pen holder on his desk. “I just
thought I’d offer.”

There was a
hint of hurt in her voice and he closed his eyes, exhaling slowly
before opening them again. “I’m sorry. It’s—” The phone rang and he
reached out to pick it up while casting an apologetic look at
Elise.

“I know. You
have a lot to get caught up on. I should have waited. It was just
that we had such a good time and I thought we could spend the rest
of the day together.” She turned to walk towards the door but he
stretched out his arm and grabbed her hand.

“We’ll talk
about it after supper, I promise.”

She gave him a
half smile and pulled her hand free, shutting the door firmly, both
on the office and on the mental connection they had through their
blood bond. He clenched his jaw knowing he was definitely in the
‘dog house’. The phone continued to ring and with a sigh he turned
to answer it. After dinner, he’d make amends.

As Elise left
Kane’s office, Jacob came barrelling down the stairs. The little
boy did nothing quietly and was yelling for his father at the top
of his lungs. “Daddy! Daaaadddy!”

Elise scooped
him up and pressed his face against her shoulder. “Hush! Haven’t I
told you not to yell in the house?”

“Yep.” He
squirmed to get free. “Need Daddy.”

“Daddy’s busy
right now with pack business. What do you need?”

“Gamma Helen
go park!”

“She’s going
to take you to the park?”

He nodded. “I
need ’mission.”

“
Per
mission. Not ’mission.”

“Yep! I go
swing?” He grabbed her cheeks and turned her face so he looked her
directly in the eye. So young and yet already exercising his innate
Alpha instincts. Heaven help them all when he reached his
teens!

The stairs
creaked softly and Elise looked up to see Helen descending, her
pace much slower than Jacob’s had been. Helen was honorary
grandmother to the children, the ‘housekeeper’ for the pack house
and a general font of wisdom for anyone who needed a dose of common
sense.

“Jacob said
you were going to take him to the park?” Elise let the boy down and
he began sliding along the polished wooden floors making some vague
engine type noise. Obviously the long plane ride home hadn’t tired
him in the least.